Sheriff Miera discusses his vision for county law enforcement

On Jan. 1, former sheriff Jerry Hogrefe and former undersheriff Steve Miera swapped positions, making Miera the current sheriff for Taos County and Hogrefe as his second in command. Taos News sat down with Miera during his first month in his new role to ask him about how he envisions the future of the Taos County Sheriff’s Office, and how he’s addressing the one controversy his office has faced thus far.

How has the new position been?

It’s been really good. We’ve already hit the ground running. Not a whole lot will change, but it’s just a continuation of the evolution of the sheriff’s office. The way I look at it, [I’m] building on the foundations of the previous sheriffs’ administrations before me.

What kind of initiatives did you bring with you to the position?

Right now, what’s of greatest importance to me is coverage area and staffing. What really beats us up is the fact that our office is the size that it is and the county being the size that it is.

How I came up with these numbers is based on the Department of Justice (DOJ) standards: two deputies per thousand people in that area. Currently in Taos County, there are 34,489 people. I called the Immigration

and Naturalization Service to get a rough estimate for the percentage they use for undocumented individuals because I can’t use their immigration status as a determining factor of whether I help them or not. We help everybody regardless.

They said, “Well, Steve, take your population and multiply it by 40 percent, and that’ll give you an approximate of what the undocumented population is in your area.” So, that gives us 13,795 additional to our base. That gives us 48,284 residents in the county.

Then we take that number, and us being a huge tourist attraction, using a conservative percentage of 10 percent, you take the 48,284 and multiply it by 10 percent, that gives us an additional 4,824 tourists because we do render services to those people.

You take that number, and at any given moment in Taos County, you have a population of 53,112. When you apply the DOJ standards of two officers per thousand, this county should be serviced by a department of 106.

How many staff members do you have right now?

Boots-on-the-ground, 26. That’s including sergeants. What most people don’t understand is the difference between the sheriff’s offices and police departments. There are certain statutory obligations that we are responsible for that they are not, one being court security. So, we have to take off two of these guys for that. Now I’m down to 24. Then we have criminal transports. There’s two more right there, so I’m down to 22.

Now, remember, this number is inclusive of my four sergeants and two lieutenants right now, so that’s minus six. We’re down to 16 that you have actively patrolling bootson-the-ground, covering and doing the job of 106. That number doesn’t include the undersheriff and myself.

However, I fully understand that Taos County cannot sustain the economic hit that it would require to fund 106 positions. So, I came up with an idea that I’ll pitch to the commission, and I believe it to be completely reasonable. What I’m proposing is to have two deputies per shift, per commissioner’s district. I have four shifts currently, and there’s five commissioner’s districts, so that would give me 40 deputies.

There’s 2,200 square miles of Taos County and around 40 separate, individual communities within it. I’ve got to render services to each one of those communities. With the way things are going now with the criminal justice system, it seems like laws are being passed for law-abiding citizens, and there’s not much as far as repercussions for individuals who do break the law.

That criminal element is realizing there are no consequences for their actions, so they’re becoming more brazen. If I can get to the point where I have a reasonable amount of deputies, we can transition from being a reactive agency to a proactive agency, where we do proactive patrols in communities. They can patrol those communities with their lights on to show a deterrence toward that criminal element.

What kind of learning curve have you noticed, if any, switching from undersheriff to sheriff?

None. I mean, through the years, Hogrefe had kept me in the loop. Basically, I spent the last eight years training for this position. There’s not any aspect of it that I’m not familiar with. In particular, not just as the undersheriff, but spending the last 20 years here as not only a deputy but a sergeant and a lieutenant, I’ve hit on every aspect of the obligations of a sheriff.

How has your outlook on law enforcement changed since you began as a deputy until now?

It’s an evolution. As far as law enforcement in this office and this community, one of the biggest benefits to this office — and one of the reasons I take this position so seriously — is the community support. We enjoy the fact that our community trusts us; they’re confident in us. As their sheriff, I am adamant and dedicated to preserving that trust, and I do that by ensuring that transparency and accountability are always there.

There’s no part of this office that should be shrouded in mystery or secrecy. This office belongs to the people. I don’t answer to the commission; I don’t answer to the County Manager; I don’t answer to anyone except the people. I think because of that dynamic, the level of professionalism and accountability on my part needs to be that much higher than other law enforcement.

How have people been reacting to your ascension to sheriff?

Positively, [but] there have been some issues. Some people have had an issue with me naming Hogrefe as the undersheriff; however, they are not privy to my personal knowledge and experience with him and what I know about his abilities. I think one of the characteristics of a good leader is to seek out resources and exploit those resources, and for me to allow this county to continue operating without his experience would be more of a detriment.

Other than that, I also lean on the fact that there’s always going to be criticism. You’re not going to make everybody happy, but what really helped me understand that dynamic was a close friend of mine, who reassured me and told me, “Steve, remember this: we elected you to keep us safe. We didn’t elect you to keep us happy.” So, in that, I really realized, and that helped me get through the criticisms and see past them.

That’s all I’ve got.

Do you have anything else to add?

I look forward to the next four years, and hopefully that we can get to that level of service that I believe the community deserves.